Children and Families Bills
This update looks at bills pertaining to children and families. The Assembly passed 15 bills related to children and families in January and February.
AB964 was signed into law by the governor as 2025 Wisconsin Act 218. This law empowers the DOJ to obtain subpoenas related to the crime of sextortion against children. This is a follow-up to a law we passed last year to define sextortion of a minor under state law.
SB291 allows a business to receive a credit for an amount of up to 15 percent of the business’s costs incurred to provide child care services for employees. I was appalled to see the governor veto this bill which would have helped parents across our state.
AB237 was signed into law by the governor as 2025 Wisconsin Act 94. This law expands the safe haven law to apply to a child reasonably believed to be 30 days old or younger and requires certain information be provided to the parent.
AB903 clarifies procedure for when a child is relinquished under the safe haven law. The governor vetoed this bill.
SB485 was signed into law by the governor as 2025 Wisconsin Act 184. This law authorizes group homes, shelter care facilities, and child welfare agencies that operate a residential care center for children and youth to use video surveillance and recordings in common areas, entrances, and exits as long as they inform the child’s guardian.
SB799 eliminates the exception where a parent or guardian can not access a minor’s court and treatment records if the child is 14 years or older and files a written objection. This bill also modifies current law to allow parents or guardians to access HIV testing records. Parents or guardians who are found to be a risk to the child or have been denied physical placement rights are not entitled to access the minors’ records. I am disappointed that the governor vetoed this bill that would protect parents rights to over their children.
AB961 requires all distributors of explicit content to provide a prominent, clear, and conspicuous warning label on explicit content sold or published.
AB962 requires app stores to request age category information and verify an individual’s age category using a commercially available verification method. It also requires minors’ accounts to be linked to a parental account.
AB963 requires a covered social media platform to estimate the age of account holders and places various requirements on those platforms regarding an account of a presumed minor. The limitations on minors’ social media accounts include: 1) obtaining verifiable parental consent before allowing the minor to create or maintain, or change the terms and conditions of, an account; 2) the platform must set all privacy settings to be at the most private setting by default; 3) prohibiting presentation of infinite scrolling and push notifications; 4) preventing certain advertising on minors accounts; and (5) requiring accounts to be terminated if verifiable parental consent is not obtained. I voted against this bill because I do not believe the technology is yet reliable for a social media platform to be able to estimate a person’s age. In fact, one of my staff took weeks just to convince Facebook that she was not a robot, let alone over 18. It is a nice thought but I believe parents and not social media companies or the government are best able to protect our kids.
AB625 establishes “pay for performance” requirements for certain grants issued by the Department of Administration. The DOA must withhold between 10 and 50 percent of the amount of the eligible grant for 9 months and until the recipient can demonstrate that it has met one or more performance objectives. The objectives include: 1) increasing the number of homeless individuals and families securing continued housing for longer than nine months; 2) increasing the number of homeless individuals securing part-time or full-time employment and an increase in earned income; 3) reducing the number of homeless individuals and families returning to homelessness.
AB918 was signed into law by the governor as 2025 Wisconsin Act 202. This law requires school boards that provide human growth and development instructional programs to include instruction on adoption in the program.
AB253 was signed into law by the governor as 2025 Assembly Bill 253. This law modifies asset limits for the Medicaid Purchase Plan (MAPP).
In-District Events
Sunday, May 3, Pancake & Porkie Breakfast at Larrabee Sportsman’s Club, Mishicot from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Friday, May 8, Mishicot FFA Plant Sale at 660 Washington Street, Mishicot from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. More information can be found here.
Saturday, May 9, Kellnersville First Responders Spring Raffle and Brat Fry at 807 Main St, Kellnersville from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. More information can be found here.
Saturday, May 9, Riverside Rally Car Show at Riverside Park, Kaukauna from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. More information can be found here.
Friday, May 15, Trivia Nigh Benefiting Mishicot Agriscience and FFA at K-City Pub and Grill, Kellnersville from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. More information can be found here.
Sunday, May 26, Pancake & Porkie Breakfast at 15331 County Road K, Reedsville from 8:00 a.m. to noon. More information can be found here.
Sunday, May 31, Tractor Pull at Larrabee Sportsman’s Club, Mishicot from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
